"Persisters is an ongoing series of large-scale portrait paintings representing trailblazing women in their pursuit of justice.

The women featured are modern, complex, and as tenacious as they are valiant, challenging the present political climate with renewed energy in this particularly arduous time for women.

The Persisters are a celebration of the achievements of a particular women. I also want to represent the women as the multi faceted leaders they are by focusing on the psychological aspects of each woman while recognizing their courageous stance in the modern political sphere. As a whole, the series approaches politics from a humanitarian angle, which I feel is inherently female.

I make large-scale formal portraits in an effort to magnify and honor the endeavors and accomplishments of these female champions in the way that white men have been revered for theirs throughout the history of portraiture.

Each portrait serves the purpose of keeping these women prominent and recognized, but also represents my own personal navigation through the modern political climate."

- Artist Jo Hay

The portraits featured in this exhibition will be:

Cynthia Nixon - the first woman, as well as the first openly lesbian candidate to run for Governor of New York

Emma Gonzales - As a high school senior she survived the February 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida,[5] and in response co-founded the gun-control advocacy group Never Again MSD.[6] Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg - The second woman to sit on the Supreme Court as well as being the first Jewish woman Justice.

Linda Sarsour - Muslim American Activist and , Co-Founder of the Women's March

Tamika Mallory - African American Activist and Co- Founder of the Women's March

Rachel Maddow - journalist

Hillary Clinton - the first woman to be nominated for President representing the Democratic Party

Dr. Christine Blasey Ford - In September 2018, Ford publicly alleged that U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in 1982.[10] She testified about her allegations during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing regarding Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination later that month. She is the new face of the #METOO Movement